Serena Williams defends Madrid title

Williams beat Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the Madrid Open on Sunday to retain her No. 1 ranking and collect her 50th career title, while Rafael Nadal eased by Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 6-4 for his fifth title since returning from a knee injury.

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Serena Williams is all smiles while holding her second straight Madrid Open title trophy. Williams beat Maria Sharapova in straight sets.

The second-ranked Sharapova would have overtaken the top ranking with a win, but Williams stormed out to an early lead as Sharapova struggled with her serve.

Despite Sharapova briefly recovering her poise in the second set, Williams' form never dipped as she eased to the title.

"It feels good," Williams said about winning her 50th title. "I don't know how many more I can win. Who knows if I will ever win another title? I just want to live the dream. Hopefully, I can keep it going.

"When you first start out everything is so exciting. Now I expect to win."

Williams improved her record against Sharapova to 13-2, with her only two losses coming in 2004.

The 31-year-old Williams, playing in her first red clay final since 2002, dominated Sharapova from the start as the Russian never managed to steady her erratic serve.

"I started the match really slow and against an opponent like her you can't give her that," said Sharapova, who had won her previous seven red-clay finals. "I wasn't reacting well. I wasn't moving well. Not only the double faults I made, I didn't have a lot of great first serves in. She was really stepping up."

Sharapova committed five double faults in her first three service games, dropping the first two as Williams eased to a one-set lead. Her shaky serve let Williams gear up and land several winning shots before closing out the first set with a floating return that clipped the line.